"Is he going to survive?" Isaac asked Lenna quietly enough that the other two surviving bandits couldn't hear. Karson and Tarel were tasked with the morbid duty of stripping their former colleagues of anything useful. He had told Lenna just to keep him from bleeding out while in the presence of the rest of them but he really wanted the man to wake up. He had a few questions regarding his trial and sentencing. His was the only list of crimes that Karson had tiptoed around which made him want to double check the validity of what the bandit had told him.

"Yes." Lenna told him. "He won't wake up for a few hours though. He was seriously concussed, he had a few broken ribs, and his neck is still broken. I sealed off his arm like you wanted me to and fixed his brain, mostly, but I had to stop there."

"So he's still mildly concussed, and if he tries to get up he could kill himself." Isaac summarized. "We are rich but I don't want to waste a healing potion on someone I am just going to turn to dust."

"Agreed." Lenna replied. "So what's the play?"

"I'm gonna have Shamesh get in contact with Phantom. I want to send these two as far south as they can be pushed to go. We'll use them to look for Morgan Effy and Arnold Drake." Isaac explained. "We'll report the bandit group as completely wiped out which will give those two a blank slate as long as no one Identifies them. Phantom should be able to set up some kind of communication system with them that won't have a hard connection to us that can be easily tracked."

"You think they'll cooperate?" Lenna wondered. She looked over her shoulder at the pair of bandits that looked terrified, horrified, and disgusted in almost equal measure.

"I'll order their shadows to kill them if they try to double-cross us. That should be a good start at ensuring their temporary loyalty. Ultimately they are almost as expendable as their shadows. I usually prefer making friends, but Karson is just a slimy bastard, and Tarel is as generic of a criminal as it gets. They aren't special." Isaac went on. Worst case, they vanish into the wilderness never to be seen again. They aren't strong or smart enough to actually be added to a list of enemies."

"What about the boss?" Lenna asked and eyed the man at their feet.

"I think if he passes our morality test, he will actually be useful and cooperative." Isaac replied. "If not, well, ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

Lenna nodded in agreement. She wasn't really a fan of using people as disposable tools like Isaac was planning with the two regular bandits, but Isaac was right with his summary of them as individuals. She also wasn't a huge fan of Isaac just killing Rich because his voice was grating to be around, but she also knew that he was using the annoying one as an example to the other two. Aiden was proof that there were lines that Isaac would not tolerate being crossed and Rich was proof that Isaac wouldn't tolerate annoyances which would hopefully keep the two survivors on their best behavior.

Isaac gestured to his side and his shadow opened up and brought forth the most dapper skeletal butler in the world, at least he was decently sure that Shamesh held that title because he was wearing his robe of ribbons. There was always a chance that a necromancer or lich had a skeletal butler who was wearing even more elegant and opulent attire but he found that unlikely.

"My Lord, my Lady." Shamesh greeted the duo. The two bandits looked on in terror at the lich-looking butler. "How may I be of assistance."

"Tell Phantom that we have a prospective set of shadows for him." Isaac told Shamesh. "And then make some tea. We are going to be here for a while."

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"As you wish, so it shall be done." Shamesh replied with a deep bow and immediately got to work.

Isaac looked over at the pair of bandits. "Stop gawking and get back to work." He told them with a flat look followed by an eye flick towards Rich's corpse. Both bandits immediately got back to work.

'Phantom is currently waiting for a caravan to take him back to Safeharbor.' Shamesh told Isaac through their link so the bandits wouldn't overhear. 'He said that he will hurry back but he needs the caravan as cover in order to sneak back into the city.'

'He's in Sapphirestone then.' Isaac surmised. 'Tell him to wait there. We might have him smuggle these idiots into the city so they can be sent southward via ship instead of over land. We still don't know if it will be two or three of them but if it is three then his work will be much easier.'

'Understood.' Shamesh replied and relayed the message. 'He is doing as requested and will 'make himself useful' until we arrive.'

Isaac nodded. "Good." He said aloud.

"I shall begin tea preparations immediately." Shamesh said with another deep bow. He started getting a table and chairs out of Lenna's Bottomless Backpack. They needed to be assembled but they had been built with Bottomless Bags in mind so they were put together in short order. He next took out an entire tea set and a collection of two dozen different teas.

As Shamesh went through the motions of setting up for tea and then making it, the bandit pair continued working and throwing glances at him. Meanwhile, Isaac and Lenna took their seats and sat in companionable silence. The weather was pleasant and soft cloud cover made the sun just a bit less blinding so they were actually enjoying the day.

Shamesh poured Isaac and Lenna their tea and then waited off to the side. "Should I prepare anything for our hosts?" Shamesh asked.

"Just water." Isaac told him. "And then begin cataloging everything that they have gathered and have them gather any food into perishable and travel ration groups. They are welcome to eat any perishable goods now but the travel rations should be packed for their upcoming trip."

"As you wish, so shall it be done." Shamesh replied and continued on to his next task.

Isaac and Lenna watched, out of the corners of their eyes, as Shamesh went about his new task. He offered both men cups of water with their own cups, which he took from their packs with telekinesis, and both men paled. The interactions between the terrified bandits and Shamesh were funny, especially considering that Shamesh was the most docile out of all of those present. Even so, they were definitely more afraid of Shamesh than they were of Lenna and maybe even more so than they were of Isaac. There was just something long ingrained in all of the mortals of Primatia that made them afraid of skeletons.

A few hours passed, with Lenna occasionally checking on the boss and giving him a bit more healing between reading a book, Isaac keeping one eye on the bandits and one ear on what they were saying around Shamesh, and Shamesh counting and further organizing all of the loot that the bandits had acquired. A decent amount of it was in Bottomless Boxes which meant that a few of the boxes had to be split open. Any box that hadn't been claimed as personal property by any of the bandits had a note on it with everything that was inside but the personal stashes of the bandits were an entirely different story. In the end, Shamesh had a complete list of everything in the bandits' possession and the pair of conscious bandits were able to stuff their faces with fruits that were on the verge of starting to go bad.

"Enough travel rations for forty two people for one day, perishable foods totaling enough for around fifty people for one day, twelve thousand nine hundred and sixty four copper coins, one thousand six hundred and seventy silver coins, two hundred and eighty one electrum coins, four hundred and forty eight gold coins, and eighty four platinum coins, eight gold bars, ninety one unenchanted melee weapons of various kinds, six bows, five cross bows, ninety four arrows, fifty eight bolts, fifteen tents, twenty bedrolls, sixty two blankets, a moderate assortment of pots and pans, and a thirty seven pieces of jewelry." Shamesh reported what he had cataloged to Isaac as soon as he was done. "What would you like us to do with it, my Lord?"

"Package the following with a note detailing its contents, ten thousand copper coins, one thousand silver coins, two hundred and sixty electrum coins, two hundred and forty gold coins, fifty platinum coins, and twenty four days of both travel rations and water into a Bottomless Box. Have them pack backpacks with their own tents, bedrolls, clothes, weapons, and any other personal belongings that they might have. Then pack everything else in whatever Bottomless Boxes are left in order from most to least expensive, baring the stolen jewelry. Put anything that might be able to be returned to someone in Lenna's Bottomless Backpack and we will turn it in when we turn in the bounty." Isaac instructed his retainer. The Bottomless box loaded with enough coins, food, and water for a small group to make a new life in a new land was for the bandits. It wasn't as much money as it looked, one thousand and seventy gold worth to be exact, but it would be enough to give them a good start. Isaac would also fund their travel, at least most of the way, so it should still work out in their favor.

By the time Shamesh's and the bandits next set of tasks were finished, it was starting to get dark. Isaac had them start a campfire and they ate what good fruit there was left as well as the excess travel rations for dinner. It was just after they had finished, and Karson had started roasting a slab of horse meat over the fire, did the boss wake up with a groan. Lenna had healed the man's neck to the point where moving didn't put him in any real danger but the bones were still weak. She had stopped healing him at that point because he was out of immediate danger and that was good enough for her and her husband to question him. Depending on how the round of questioning went, Lenna might have to heal him a bit more. Only time would tell.

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